Fort Lauderdale Police: Ultramodern Crime-Solving; Now Ethics?

What if Fort Lauderdale Police mapped the city's gun owners and increased patrols only in those neighborhoods where guns were concentrated?

And if those neighborhoods were mostly black? Or Hispanic? Or white?

How about if cops, taking advantage of a smart partnership with big data experts IBM, targeted crime-heavy neighborhoods to the exclusion of your neighborhood?

In what the city is rightfully pitching as a forward-thinking move, Fort Lauderdale is working with IBM to analyze city crime patterns and solve cold cases. "We're entering a new era of police work where advances in technology are providing us with an additional tool to use in our crime prevention efforts," Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley said in a news release. "Integrating advanced data analysis into our operational strategies will help us maximize resources and stay one step ahead of the criminals."

Miami has also been working with IBM for a while to analyze crime trends, using Predictive Analytics Lead Modeling Software. They call it "Blue Palms,"

In the enthusiasm around big data, there has been little discussion about what that data might uncover. Privacy issues will surface as data analytics becomes able to reveal identities by combining what was previously considered anonymous data with location and purchasing information.

Chuck Strouse is editor-in-chief of Miami New Times. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes and won dozens of other state local and national awards. He is an honors graduate of Brown University and has worked at multiple newspapers including the Miami Herald, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and Los Angeles Times.